Friends Always Win in the End!
by Ruwen Rouhs
Chapter 4
You Can Stay with Me, Arash
On the way home, Severin frantically thought about what he should tell his mother about Arash's "incident". His mother was extremely scary as well as caring. In his opinion, she was too scary in respect to him. When he got up for school in the morning: "Didn't you forget your lunch? Watch out at the crossings, last week another cyclist was run over by a truck! Watch out at soccer! Watch out your weak arm! Watch out! Watch out!" He loved his mother but she got on his nerves with her care. Two years ago, she even removed the bunk bed from his room: "You dream too much and sleep too restlessly. I have ordered a queen size bed now, if you fall out of it you can't break you neck at least!
He was sure, he shouldn't tell her the whole truth about Arash incident. If she knew Arash had been beaten up by the Iranian secret police because of his father, he wouldn't have been allowed to visit his friend. But he had promised to come back the next morning. He had to, he was worried about Arash. It was stupid that his father was on a business trip. He could have told him the whole story. He would certainly would have found a way to protect Arash and his family.
At home, he only told his mother that his friend had been beaten up by three men on his way back from shopping. "He has a black eye and a terrible headache. His father advised him to stay in bed. Don't worry Mom, he doesn't have a concussion. His father is a doctor and gave him a check-up. I'm sure he'll be fine tomorrow."
"Poor guy, he's so nice! Why did they knock him down?" To Severin's delight, she then added: "But tomorrow you'll go and see how he's doing. I've still got cookies. You bring some to him!"
The next morning there was a white-blue police car in front of Arash's house. "You can't go in here!" a policeman stoppedSeverin. "But I have to, I'm Arash's friend. I promised."
"Can you identify yourself?" Severin showed his student ID. The policeman called a guy dressed in plain cloth. "I am Detective Hellwig. I'm in charge here, please identify yourself" he asked and after studying the document, it was accepted. "But go through the garden and use the back door. The other detectives and the fire department haven't finished their investigation at the front yet." Now Severin's stomach clenched. What had happened?
That's what Severin saw when he entered through front gate of the garden. The green-painted front door was charred and the white-painted frame of the front entrance was black from soot. Someone must have tried to set the house on fire. Perhaps they had used barbecue lighters, which were now on sale everywhere. Or maybe they had thrown a Molotov cocktail. "It must have been the Iranian secret service, who else?" he guessed
Severin knocked on the back door of the house. After a while, Arash came. His black eye had turned green and yellow. His left arm was still in a sling. "Come on in, Sev. I wasn't expecting you. I completely forgot you promised to come. Please, come in."
Severin didn't need to ask. On the way through the living room, Arash began to explain. "At night, sirens suddenly started wailing outside our house. I woke up, the others too. The fire department was already there and was busy to put out the fire. Later, the police told us that a neighbor had called to say that a Molotov cocktail had been thrown at our house from a moving car. He didn't recognize the license plate of it. But it was a large, dark-colored car. I think it was the one of the men who beat me up the day before."
While Arash was describing the events of the night to him, Severin had turned to the aquarium and attracted the guppies by knocking on the aquarium glass. Therefore, he didn't notice Arash's father entering the room. He turned around startled, when a voice with a strong accent said, "I've finally reached him..." Only then did Arash's father did see Severin standing by the aquarium. "Who's that Arash? You didn't say anything about a visitor! It's not a day for a visit." He said with stern voice, then asked, "A school friend, a teammate?"
"My friend, Sev" "Yes, I'm Severin, a teammate and friend of Arash!"
When he tried to explain his presence, Arash's father waved him off. "We have to hurry, the flight leaves in two hours."
In the meantime, Severin had time to examine Arash's father closely. He looked like the older version of Arash, short, wiry, slightly thicker around the hips and his hair was no longer black but salt and pepper.
Apparently, he avoided mentioning the name of the friend they were flying to, as well as the destination. He's afraid I'm a spy, Severin immediately suspected. He was right, because when Arash asked, "Are Mom and Sarya flying with us?"
"Of course, we'll meet them at the airport."
"But to whom are we flying to?"
"You know him. He has the twins you wanted to marry when you were a little boy!"
"I was eight then, I'm grown up now! And when we visited them two years ago, they got on my nerves." He shook his head then pleaded, "Dad, please, leave me here, nothing will happen to me. Besides, who waters the garden and feeds the fish! Let me stay here! Please!"
While the discussion between father and son heated up, Severin suddenly thought of the solution, "Can I have a go?" he asked during a pause in the discussion, "Arash can stay with us. He can stay with us for the whole vacations. My sister is in England. Therefore, we've got room enough. And mom is happy when I'm not hanging around on my own. We'll come here every other day to water the flowers and feed the fish."
"That would be great!" Arash picked up the thread immediately. "Dad, you always said I should have more friends. And now? Please allow it!" At first Arash's father objected. Finally, he was persuaded to call Severin's mother to ask her, if there is a problem with Arash staying at the Starks. However, she wasn't at home. Then Severin remembered, "Today, she wanted to go swimming with her sports group. She won't be back until 1 pm. Dad's away on business, so we can't get him either." As the other two hesitated, Severin decided, "Arash is coming with me! It's a deal. And you Sir, have to hurry otherwise you won't make the plane."
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